Finding True Deliverance in the Mouth of the Beast

I apologize for not updating more recently. I've been dealing with some health issues. All is well - I just needed some extra time to take care of a few things. Look for new posts from me in the next few days. 

For your reading pleasure, here is an awesome guest post written by Sober Nation writer Tim Powers! Enjoy! Let us know what you think in the comments!

Finding True Deliverance in the Mouth of the Beast

When an individual is about the leave rehab, a halfway house, or a similar form of sober living and enters the jungle that can be the real world uncertainty and doubt is often at the forefront.  Leaving the comforting womb of structure, support, and stability and entering the visceral maw of day-to-day living can rub at the seams of one’s sanity threaten to tear asunder the framework built upon the foundations of pain, sweat, revelation and rediscovery.  Jumping back into the fray with both feet is the common response after being out of the game.  However, that tunnel vision mentality often has undone the fragile eggshell constitution of the newly sober.

Staying true in recovery in real time involves being aware of feelings and recognizing them for what they are.  It is alright to feel thoughts of wanting to use…it is normal.   One can’t erase those poisoned years overnight.  It takes time to slow down your thought processes enough to realize those voices one hears are compelling someone to dwell on the revisionist history of their past.  Those voices whisper only about the highest of times and leave out the debris the bad decisions left in its wake.

Staying true in recovery is finding voice to those feelings and finding healthy ways to express those feelings.  It can be finding a twelve-step meeting and sharing those feelings in real time.  It can be finding a creative outlet like music.  It can be transforming the physical being through exercise or transforming the mental being through spirituality.  Addiction wants one to internalize emotion and remain silent in the facing of obstacles in recovery.  Finding healthy ways to externalize those thoughts and feelings promotes healing.

Staying true in recovery is realizing those things learned in rehab and the halfway houses are tools in the proverbial toolkit that need to be utilized to unlock knowledge and confidence.  Recovery is holistic and requires some form of nourishment in order to progress.  Working a program and getting a sponsor, finding people who are strong in recovery and replacing bad influences with positive ones.  It isn’t just about plugging the jug…it is about changing the mindset, the people and places.

Staying true in recovery means that recovery is understood as a journey and not a destination.  With each day that passes one discovers new things about themselves no matter how small or sublime it may be.  The very act of recognizing those small revelations opens new doors to awareness.  Some days will be good and some won’t be so good, and that is OK.  As long as one moves forward (even if it is baby steps) it is a victory.  One day at a time…staying true to your sober self from the time one wakes up to the time one lays their head down…that is the true key.  

Tim Powers – bald, tattooed, a business professional by day and rocker by night. Sober by the grace of God since the 8th of May in the year of our Lord 2003. Sharing my stories and myself in order to pay it forward. You can follow me on Twitter @tpowersbass42

Lisa M. Hann is a freelance writer and author who specializes in addiction recovery. She holds a B.A. in Journalism from Temple University. She resides in New Jersey with her son. She has been sober since 2010 and is a Caron PA alum. She is the author of "How to Have Fun in Recovery" and "365 Ways to Have Fun Sober" (available in the Kindle store).